Calamity of caliber choices

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xandi

New member
I want to make my own revolver, what would be a good cartridge choice? 22lr 38 sped, 357 mag, 45 colt, 7.62x54r? What wou yous think?
 
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Depends on what you want, and how you're making it.

Are you planning on buying all the parts and putting them together or machining the parts yourself? I've put together AR-15's and a 1911 from parts and own many revolvers, but I have no idea how you'd go about building a revolver.
 
By all means build a snub nosed .357 Magnum. This way you will also cover the .38 Special.

What type of work shop and tools/machinery do you have to work with?
 
Well, first off, if you make your own revolver document and share please.

To the original question, Id say it will depend on what materials you use and your finishing processes like hardening. I would suggest staying with a lower pressure round like 45 colt or 45acp.
 
When I think single action I always think Colt .45 (the cartridge, not the malt liquor). Probably comes from a ton of cowboy shows from my youth. I have to admit though that the .357 magnum would give you more versatility as far as bullet selection, cheaper factory loads, just being able to find factory loads and the ability to use .38 specials if you want. During the last ammo shortage .45 Colt disappeared from the shelves of several places I shop for ammunition. Of course if you reload it's not so much of a problem.

Good luck with your project, it'll be quite an under taking for sure. Drop back and tell us how it's going from time to time.
 
If you're going for a Single Action, i.e. a Colt Style, make the barrel either 7 1/2" or 4 3/4", traditional SA barrel lengths. A 6" barrel just doesn't look right on a SA revolver.

Make it a flat top similar to a Colt New Frontier and give it decent sights. Also, provide a wide, smooth trigger.

Depending on the size of your frame, consider calibers .32-20 or .357 Magnum. If you're going for big bore, .44 Magnum, .45 Colt or .41 Magnum.

And, of all things, don't do anything stupid like trying to make it opposite handed from traditional SA designs. There was a revolver made a few years ago, the Texas Longhorn, which was a beauty of a gun and very well made, but the maker put the loading gate and ejector rod on the wrong side.

And above all, use carbon steel that can be blued. Stainless steel Single Action revolves are a blasphemy to shootists!

Them's my thoughts.

Bob Wright
 
For a SA revolver definitely 45 Colt. Or 44-40 which could challenge your machining skills a bit more than the straight cased 45 Colt.
 
7/8 scale, assuming Colt clone, .38 Special.

You got a milling attachment for that lathe? Not many round parts on a revolver but the barrel and cylinder.
 
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"...have a lathe..." Takes a lot more than just a lathe. And you need the correct steel.
You'd best look into the legalities of manufacturing a firearm first too. Both Federal and State.
"...7.56x54r..." What? There's no such thing as a 7.56 x 54R. 7.62 x 54R(that is not a revolver cartridge)? 7.63 Mauser/Parabellum? 7.65 French? Perhaps?
 
It is perfectly legal to make your own firearm, you cannot sell it with out getting proper licenses and paperwork.

And he ment 7.62x54r.
 
It's legal to make your own firearm under federal law. It's also legal to sell it.
You can't be in the business of making guns to sell without licenses, but individuals can sell a gun they made.
 
By make i mean, machine and fabricate from raw metal, I’ll have a lathe by this point
Click to expand...

You will need much more than just a lathe. You will need a mill, a machine to forge the raw frame or a casting set up like Ruger uses to cast a frame. Plus jigs will have to be made to hold the raw parts for machining. If you are going to make one then make enough parts to make 3-4 so when a screw up is made you have some spare parts.

I worked all my young life in my dads machine shop and I am not sure he would have attempted making a revolver. And he was a master machinest. Making your own will cost many times more than what you can buy a real Colt for by the time you have all the parts and machines to make one gun.
 
With all due respect, even back in the 1870s it took an entire factory, with many, many specialty machines, jigs, and fixtures to manufacture the Colt Single Action Army. Not to mention obtaining dimensioned drawings, which are the intellectual property of Colt, and they will never release those documents.
 
You might check out the Single Action forum. Lee Martin, the host, did a video of his 5 shot build. More complicated than you think.
 
Wow, ....just out of the blue ...you want to make your own revolver ??

Interesting & challenging .....most guys would find it very challenging to do a complete trigger job rebuild on an existing single or double action revolver...let alone machining the rest of the major parts.../ ...color me skeptical... but good luck to you !
 
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